Following the “better than everyone else” scandal (credit Payne and Pendergast), the Astros were stripped of their first and second round picks in both the 2020 and 2021 drafts. They did, however, receive a compensation pick in the second round of the 2020 draft after Gerrit Cole left for New York. With that selection, the Astros drafted high school right-hander Alex Santos II.
Santos entered the system with plenty of upside and showed some of it early, posting a 3.46 ERA with 48 strikeouts over 41.2 innings in 2021. He returned to Single-A in 2022, but the results took a step back as he finished with a 5.99 ERA over 82.2 innings.
The next three seasons were a struggle. Santos eventually made his way to Double-A, but injuries and inconsistent performance limited him to just 135.1 innings while he posted a 6.58 ERA during that stretch.
In 2026, Santos made a significant change, moving to the bullpen, a move that may have helped save his professional career.
Santos opened the season with Corpus Christi and, after posting a 5.40 ERA in April, started to turn things around. He recorded a 2.25 ERA with 18 strikeouts over 12 innings in May. After some struggles early in June, Santos caught fire.
From June 17 through August 20, Santos posted a 1.21 ERA with 47 strikeouts over 29.2 innings, a dominant stretch that earned him a promotion to Triple-A.
The success has followed him to Sugar Land. Santos has posted a 0.77 ERA with 18 strikeouts 11.2 innings at the Triple-A level. Even more impressive, he has allowed just three hits during that span. He was also named Astros minor league pitcher of the month for August.
For Santos, the move to the bullpen has been a welcome change.
“I fell in love with it,” Santos told MLB.com. “I love being in the bullpen and being able to just get called on right away, that adrenaline rush, to go out there and try to compete and just go out there and dominate.”
From a second-round pick with significant upside, to struggling through injuries and inconsistent results in the minors, to now emerging as a dominant relief pitcher, it has been quite the journey for Santos.
But the former second-round pick has put himself back on the radar in a big way. If Santos continues to dominate out of the bullpen, it may only be a matter of time before he finally gets the call to Houston.
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